I'm expecting one from the Pater this week, Frantone. Until then could you lend me a fiver? I will of course pay you back when it arrives.

Reading back through this thread I see that most of you call them "Motor Homes" which is distinctly a British Term for them and almost sounds like Estate Agent Speak to convince potential purchasers that they are homes from home to travel in and nothing to do with camping..

Everywhere else they are called camper vans, camping cars,

Anyway, the only reason I bring this subject up again is because there's an interesting thread going on on Eribafolk facebook at the moment where folk are talking about the Scottish NC500.

Apparently, since we did it unknowingly in 2015 it's becoming more and more popular to the point that it's annoying many Scottish camping types.

I'd like to quote Dave Halton:-

"I’ve done the pass to Applecross no mither. The campsite there is under renovation and I am sure it will be better this year. I went there on the NC500 last October. If u follow the various guides it’s obviously full of people following the guides! I was disgusted at some of the things I saw like toilet waste tanks dropped in lay-bys and rubbish. I don’t think infrastructure is up to the numbers it gets. There were signs of work going on like new campsites etc. I would plan your own trip as there is so much more to see than camper van after camper van following the guides!"

Interesting in itself but even more so when you read one reply from one of our Dutch friends Jeroen Bursens:-

"So do you guys then do campsites, or settle for the night where ever you are in Scotland? Dutch resources indicate "wild camping" (i.e. outside of a campsite) is allowed in Scotland/UK."

Randa

Argggggg

It's bad enough when these huge walls of white paint and portholes park right alongside you on an open campsite but this would be unbearable:-

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Randa

Zitat

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Quote Aaron Calder #1. I read somewhere that motorhome sales now outstrip caravan sales in the UK and from my own experience, this would also appear to be true in France.

On our current holiday I have remarked upon the number of motorhomes parked in car parks or on special 'aires', often crammed in cheek by jowl like gypsy encampments. Why anyone would want to camp like that is beyond me as the owners of these very expensive vehicles are clearly not without a bob or two to pay site fees.

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The last day or two have, I'm my opinion, not only confirm the above statement but has also demonstrated that campervanning has now become a breed apart from tent and caravan campers.
Admittedly. It is Easter weekend and we are within walking distance of a tourist hotspot but with these things in mind, we booked ahead through ACSI Camping card to ensure a pitch on this campsite.
As I have already reported, when we arrived on Saturday, the young lady manager had reserved us a spot in the bottom corner of a large gravel area surrounded by grass and trees with the proviso that we could pick any other spot if we so wished.
We were happy with our pitch as it was quite large, near the amenities and relatively level. We were also happy that the overall area could only accommodate 8 units as there were 8 EHUs. We parked the car in the spot alongside our Eriba as indicated. Most of the remaining 7 spaces were already occupied with large campervans but not much care had been taken in spacing them out correctly so our car spot was quite large.
Lots of movement took place during the first day and evening but then yesterday evening was manic. Campervan after campervan started arriving after about 6pm and each expected to be put up for the night. I’m not sure if they had done their Easter Sunday and were now looking to bed down before travelling home or whether they had arrived from afar.
By 7pm we were disturbed while cooking supper by the young lady in charge and several unknowns all speaking across one another and asking me to move the car. I pointed out that there wasn’t a pitch where the car was as there was no hook up.
We eventually had to move it to the other side of the van and into another campervan’s chill out area while a German reversed his smallish van into our car’s spot and didn’t use any hook up.
Another caravanner had to also move his car to accommodate another van owned by a scruffy, irate Italian. Two large vans even turned up after 10pm and were turned around to park in the street outside the campsite.
My point is that this is supposed to be a campsite and not a lorry park yet it would appear that most large campervan owners expect to be accommodated, whatever time they turn up. In this case I suspect the young lass running the campsite was bullied into making spaces available for them.
This morning we decided to stay in bed until around 10 am at which time many had left the campsite. (the two outside are still there however).
Randa

I think 'campervan' is used to describe a basic, converted commercial van - like the old air-cooled VW Devon we used to own which had no heating or sanitation as opposed the modern larger, fully-equipped coachbuilt units that can be the size of a bus.

What I can't understand are the owners that tow a small car to use for excursions while on site. Why they don't tow a large caravan behind a powerful car is beyond me.

Yes maybe in the UK but abroad the term campervan or camping car refers to anything that is self powered.

I refuse to use the term "Motorhome" as it's only ever used in the English language and, in my opinion,has been adopted by the UK Industry to persude would be owners into buying these large homes on wheels that it's as far from camping as it can be, You can just hear the spiel now as a young saleman with no out of doors experience to call upon, points out the comforts and finer points of "Motorhoming".

Towing a car behind? No, he wouldn't mention that and burst the bubble.

Last year he was probably selling "Link Houses" and "Apartments" (terraced houses and flats).

I think many campervanners do abide by the "rules" of camping and try to enter into the spirit of it but I fear that it's the owners who have not "progressed" up to owning one that are the main culprits. Even worse, the renters. They park up and have their fun in town before invading what has been so far, a peaceful campsite, just so that they can bed down for the night.

There are a number of French campsites that now seperate them and park them in rows in a different area like sardines.

As for this campsite, an air of normality has returned and the spaces vacated by the overnighters have been taken up by more campervans but they have been parked sensibly with equal spacing between them which doesn't make us out as "land grabbers". This campsite isn't really suitable equipped to take that many large ones as we've realised that the space we occupy and the space our car occupied is under some trees that are just a tad too low to take these beasts anyway.

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Randa